The deadening treadmill of cookie-cutter Presley vehicles, foisted upon him by his "mentor" Col. Parker, continues here with both good and bad results. Presley plays a singing rodeo rider who finds himself working at a ranch where zaftig women go to peel away pounds. It's run by Adams, who has her sites set on him and is also home to exercise instructor Lane, who is more skeptical, at least at first. Presley's roomie is dim bulb fellow hand Mullaney while his chief antagonist is jealous swim instructor Faulkner (who sports one really awkward-looking and unappetizing set of swim trunks hoisted up practically to his chest!) Presley has to fend off the female guests of the ranch who are hungry not only for steak, but for him, while Lane searches in vain for a fortune her grandfather left behind in a nearby western ghost town. It all comes to a head in a protracted finale that seems more like a very bad episode of "Scooby Doo" than a piece of musical froth. Presley lopes through the film with varying degrees of interest, lip-synching to songs he had recorded months and years prior (a symptom of the low budget of the project), not that it stands out too much to the casual viewer. It's just that the songs bear virtually no relation to anything and there's not even a title tune. The script is preposterous, so Presley goes along for the ride as well as he can. Lane is almost legendary as one of The King's most attractive costars. Her body, even by today's standards, is unbelievable, so it's hard to imagine how jaw-dropping she must have seemed in '65. Her acting leaves quite a bit to be desired, but most male viewers will care very little! A Brit in real life, she provides a creditable American accent. Adams doesn't even try to mask her character's outright lust for Presley. She isn't given much to do at all beyond drooling over him, but she looks great doing it and does it with verve. Mullaney is annoying as would be expected from anyone being led through tired "3 Stooges" style schtick. (The films writers had worked with the comic trio previously.) Most of the rest of the cast are only shown is brief bits. At times it seems like the story – to use a term loosely – was cobbled together in order to take advantage of pre-existing sets left over from a prior movie and it's possible that that is what happened. Nonetheless, this was an inexplicable box office smash, placing the studio that backed it into the black and giving Presley (who was entitled to 50% of the profits) a hefty payday as well. At least it is colorful and attractive to the eye most of the time and undemanding (to say the least.) It's just a shame that someone as handsome and talented as Presley was unable or unwilling to be placed in projects that better displayed his charms while also paying tribute to them instead of bleeding them and his reputation dry.
Review of Tickle Me
